Swallowed Whole
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Ward, Skye, and Jemma are hospitalized after they're injured in a car accident.


**I don't own SHIELD and never will. No copyright infringement intended.**

_Notes_: Additional pairings include Fitz/Simmons/Trip and May/Coulson. Enjoy!

* * *

All Skye, Ward, and Jemma wanted to do was go out to eat and enjoy their rare time off before meeting the others back on the Bus. "We should get a dog," he randomly informed the two women.

"On the Bus? That's not going to end well." Skye hoped it could happen someday, though, for his sake. She knew how Ward how missed Buddy but it hurt too much for the specialist to talk about the dog Garrett murdered when he couldn't do it.

"Fitz would love having a dog around," chimed in Jemma. A puppy would definitely be better than the monkey Fitz was trying to guilt them into getting to help out around the plane. Nobody wanted one.

Ward laughed. "Nice ulterior motive there, Simmons."

She shrugged, smiling. "I have to at least try, Ward."

He opened his mouth to respond but Skye's scream about a car heading towards them cut him off and then the van started spinning. Ward was pretty sure he screamed with them but the pain started to overwhelm him immediately. "You okay?" he asked them.

Blood poured down Skye's cheek and she shook her head. "Not really. Jemma, how about you?" She didn't answer and their fear ratcheted up because neither of them could move to check on her. "Ward, you look really pale. How badly are you hurt?"

Ward didn't have a chance to respond. Skye's face – filled with a look of horror – was the last thing he saw before the darkness swallowed him whole.

* * *

May, Trip, and Fitz were conversing about their next mission when Coulson bolted into the kitchen. May took notice of his panic instantly. "What happened?"

"The local hospital just called me. Ward, Jemma, and Skye were brought in after a car accident and she couldn't tell me the extent of their injuries over the phone."

"We'll go now. Come on," Trip urged. The four of them rushed to the cargo bay and jumped into the nearest car (fortunately, it wasn't Lola). They drove as fast as they could to get to the hospital. "We're here about Jemma Simmons, Grant Ward, and Skye," Fitz told the first nurse they spotted.

The nurse looked up at him. "Agent Skye is waiting in room 103. We haven't heard back about the other two yet."

Coulson pretty much ran towards Skye's room. She put her hands up. "I'm fine, AC! You don't have to worry about me."

"You're hurt," May pointed out.

"Just a concussion and some cuts and bruises. Have you heard anything about Ward and Simmons? No one will tell me anything, and I'm freaking out." Her mind couldn't help but go over the worst case scenarios. What if they both died from their apparent injuries? She hadn't been able to see if Jemma was okay and she felt ready to fall apart.

"We don't know yet but we'll bother someone until they tell us." Trip couldn't wait to see Jemma himself – he and Fitz needed her by their sides. They loved her.

"I'm here for that." Skye made a move to jump down but realized she couldn't do it. "Someone's going to have to help me because I am way too dizzy for this."

Trip and Coulson practically glued themselves to her side as they helped her off the exam table and headed into the waiting room. Skye leaned her head on May's shoulder. The older woman carefully patted her head. "Everything will be fine." May didn't believe it herself but it was imperative Skye did.

"I hope so."

A different doctor came out about an hour later and asked for Jemma Simmons' family. Fitz and Trip stood up first. "Is she hurt badly? Is she dying?" Fitz knew he was acting hysterically and irrationally but he was worried.

She smiled at them. "Doctor Simmons broke her left leg and had some internal bleeding but she should be fine."

The two of them sighed in relief and kissed each other. "She'll be up in no time," Trip assured his boyfriend.

"We'll just help her the way everyone helped me." Fitz knew Jemma wasn't out of the woods yet but they had all been through worse. She would recover soon hopefully, especially with their support.

"Now we just need to find out how badly Ward was hurt." Coulson wasn't surprised when Skye let out a sob. May's comfort helped soothe her a little.

The team was left waiting for a lot longer. When Jemma woke up, her boyfriends hurried to the room she was now stuck in. Trip and Fitz peppered kisses all over her face. "This is very nice but I am too exhausted and in pain for this," she gently admonished.

"We love you and you had us terrified." The look on Fitz's face broke her heart.

"Come here," she urged them. When the boys leaned in, Jemma kissed Trip first and then Fitz. "I love you both. Never forget that."

"We won't," Trip assured her after kissing her again. He and Fitz adored the fuck out of their girlfriend and they were definitely going to spoil her rotten once she was discharged.

* * *

Skye tapped her foot impatiently (and regretted it but didn't tell May and Coulson that) as she waited for answers on Ward's health. What if he was dying? What if she didn't get to tell him that she still loved him, that she forgave him? She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had those regrets. "Somebody needs to get a solid answer."

"I'll go." Coulson stood up and headed back over to the reception desk. He was grateful a different nurse was working now. "I need to know about Grant Ward. We've been stuck here for hours and no one will tell us anything."

The nurse looked up. "I'll check for you then." She started clicking some buttons on the keyboard to look for the information they needed. "I'm sorry but I have nothing for you at this time," she told him.

Even though Coulson knew it wasn't the nurse's fault, he glared at her anyway and then rejoined Skye and May. "She had nothing."

"I am sick of this." May would have stood up and demanded answers but she refused to move because Skye had fallen asleep on her. She wrapped her arms around the hacker and pulled her closer (not an easy feat because of the chairs they were stuck in).

They finally got their answer twenty minutes later when yet another doctor came out. "Agent Ward suffered a head injury and had internal bleeding we had to fix. He broke his right wrist, and also has numerous cuts and bruises. We had to give him a blood transfusion because of his numerous injuries and the internal bleeding. Grant is very lucky because he got the worst of the accident."

"Can I be with him?" Skye questioned.

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry Miss, but no visitors at the moment. Maybe tomorrow."

She groaned and glared, but he refused to back down.

And then they settled in to wait.

* * *

When Ward woke up – and stayed awake for longer than fifteen minutes – visitors were allowed to see him. They managed to get Ward and Jemma in the same room so the team could keep an eye on both. "This fucking sucks," he complained.

"We know it does," Skye told him, ignoring Fitz, Trip, and Simmons making out next to them.

"And you three are distracting. We're in the hospital." Ward stared at them and none of the trio looked guilty.

Skye had had enough. "Since we're not going to get the privacy I've been looking for for hours, might as well say it in front of everyone."

"Say what?" Ward stared at her in confusion – he had no clue why she would want to tell him anything right now.

She took a deep breath. "I'm still majorly in love with you, you doofus. You nearly dying scared the shit out of me, and I swear my blood pressure's still the roof. You've made so much progress since you got out of jail and I just want you to know that I am so proud of you, Grant."

His lips curled up into a smile (he thought – Ward wasn't sure because of the amount of drugs they kept pumping through his system). "You're the love of my life, Skye. You are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I don't want to lose you again. I want to marry you and have babies with you and adopt some dogs and live happily ever after."

Skye grinned, and the others started laughing. "Those are some good drugs, huh?"

"Uh, yeah? That was sappy, wasn't it? Was it too much? Please say it wasn't too much."

"It wasn't too much, Grant, I promise you. And besides, I think everyone already knew all that stuff anyway."

Trip chimed in then. "Yeah, within two minutes of meeting you, it was completely obvious that you were head over heels in love with Skye."

"It's okay to wear your heart on your sleeve," Jemma assured him.

"Kiss me?" a suddenly worried Ward asked Skye. She nodded and then leaned down before placing a gentle kiss on his lips. She didn't want to hurt him any further.

Coulson wrapped his arms around May's shoulder as they watched their kids tease each other. "So everything's finally working out for us. How long do you think it is before the next crisis?"

"Phil, don't jinx us," she scolded.

He smiled at her. "Sorry! But you know us and what kind of trouble we can get into."

"You're right," May conceded. She smiled when Phil kissed her, and they ignored their family's groans when they saw them.

"Hey, we weren't making out! I'm pretty sure Fitztrimmons were about to go at it right in front of us, and I don't need that image in my head. Somebody distract me," Coulson ordered. He didn't have to wait long since May kissed him again just to piss the team off.

"Love you and our family, Phil."

"Me too, Melinda." He let go of her to usher the kids down to the cafeteria since he knew no one had eaten in a while.

Jemma was discharged from the hospital first, and true to their world, Fitz and Trip waited on her hand and foot. Ward didn't leave for another few days but Skye did her best to help him around the Bus. In turn, he tried to convince her to sit down and rest because she had been injured too.

The accident – which actually was an accident because of a drunk driver – had knocked some sense into everybody and they tried their best to continue living life to the fullest. And they all drove each other crazy by having sex all over the Bus.


End file.
